Tuesday, March 27, 2012

There are an estimated 20,000 warheads in the world's combined stockpile of nuclear weapons.

Of these, almost 5,000 are considered operational and about 2,000 belonging to the US and Russia are believed to be ready for use at short notice.

Although the exact number of nuclear weapons in each country's possession is top secret, the Federation of American Scientists has made best estimates about the size and composition of national nuclear weapon stockpiles based on publicly available information.